


one hundred and sixty

by Cloudnine101



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Friendship/Love, set during the race back to the citadel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 10:29:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7099213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudnine101/pseuds/Cloudnine101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>This is as close to an ending as they're going to find.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	one hundred and sixty

The old women have been watching him since they arrived. It's not so bad for Nux - he has Capable's protection, and so can be faulted less.

Max can't blame the Wives for not trusting him - trying to shoot somebody doesn't exactly put you on good terms with them. (He is laughing now. He wasn't then.) But the Mothers - they have been beaten down by men all their lives, and they think he is one of them. (Max wants to scream that he is not. He is _not_.)

Max feels like an invader in this sanctum. He seeks out her eyes. She he's leaning against the side of the truck, drawing her hands together: Furiosa. _To lose everything_ , Max thinks. He's surprised. His throat - his hands - they loosen.

Max finds himself wanting her: he wants to see Furiosa in the green fields, by the stream, in the mountains - he wants her to know them, the things he's heard about.

(He wants Furiosa to know the fire - the helpless longing that burns low in his gut - the desperation in every accidental touch he steals from her. She can't feel it - her eyes are low and steady. Max will not force it. He would _never_ force her, even if she hadn't - )

If anybody has a chance of finding them, she does. Hope is dangerous for all except her. She controls it - tames it - and sets it sparking.

(There's hope in his chest, hope in his hands, hope in the water.)

They will take back the citadel, Furiosa says. She will believe in this, believe with every last part and breath until she can't breathe anymore. Max will watch her fall, take her hand as she is crushed beneath wheels, and then he'll - drive off and leave her? Alone? No - not this time - not now, when they're so close. Is success a possibility? Can he allow it to be? (He's such a stupid, lucky bastard.)

Before he met her, Max had no hope left himself. This is as close to an ending as they're going to find.

Furiosa finds _him_ alone and quiet. The tan of the wheel has scraped itself onto the inside of his palms. He shakes one of them out. Her breath ghosts along his cheek; she cups his face with her hand. Her fingernails faintly scratch. Max would close his eyes, if he could manage it without crashing.

Max has learnt from Capable, Cheedo, the Dag and Toast. They take comfort from each other - from Nux - and Nux has taken comfort from him, with one hand on his head - and Angharad had been the kindest of them all, the most giving, and after she'd died (fallen) there had been a hole to fill.

Nux believes in Valhalla. Max wonders if there's anywhere like it for him. What's a warrior's death here? What's good enough? (What isn't? Everybody goes down fighting.)

"We might not have much time," Furiosa says. "People like me don't tend to last long."

"I can take the risk."

And Furiosa smiles, because she is brave and beautiful and strong and giving, so giving, and he will never be able to give enough back to balance out all that she's lost, but he can give her this, everything and anything she asks for. (They're running away from all they've ever known towards the end of the world manned by an army a thousand strong - they _might_ not have much time. Hah!)

Max wants to hold her up for as long as he can. It's more than water - more than himself. It's her. She doesn't need him - his hand doesn't fit in the small of her back. Furiosa will never _need_ him, but it's enough that she _wants_ him, or seems to want him. She's stronger than he is - a hundred times stronger - stronger and braver. Hope is dangerous - Max reminds himself. He watches a beetle make its way across his arm. The sun's getting close to rising; the Dag's already awake, trying not to look at them. Max can't blame her for that, either. They've all been through so much. 

Furiosa settles back into her seat. "Stop," she tells him. "Let me drive."

Her hand has folded neatly over his. Max's breath is caught.


End file.
